


up with the birds

by bravest



Category: The Walking Dead Game
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-12
Updated: 2012-12-12
Packaged: 2017-11-20 22:52:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/590545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bravest/pseuds/bravest
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>lee and kenny go hunting.</p><p>for mercy!</p>
            </blockquote>





	up with the birds

Alright, Lee had to admit it. There was no mistaking his friend’s shouts, cries, and aggressive gestures; his entire body language had shifted dramatically, and Lee was seeing a new side of him. It was like discovering your favorite book had one last chapter at the very end, tucked away after the epilogue. He had not expected for things to go this way at all, first putt off by Kenny’s attitude. He knew he was witnessing something rare, something Kenny likely kept to himself unless you were family, or close enough.

Because the fact was that Kenny was visibly _enjoying himself_. 

Both armed with shot guns, they were stalking in a wooden area near the stuck train for food. It was their first hunting run together, and Kenny’s whoops, cries of victory and ecstatic fist shaking were infectious. It was damn near fucking adorable how much fun Kenny was having and how little he was doing to disguise it. Lee could only laugh when Kenny’s victorious laughter echoed, sending a flock of sickly looking birds off into the crisp blue sky. He shot at them, hit two, missed one, and grinned when Kenny smacked his shoulder hard enough for it to sting.

“Good on ya, buddy!” He exclaimed, sniffling in the cold air and repositioning himself with the rifle steady in his hand. “We’re going to have a fucking _feast_ , I tell you,” he mumbled under his breath, a near manic look on his face. 

“I hope so,” Lee spoke as he headed toward the fallen birds, knowing there would barely be enough meat on there to feed a single person. It was a start, and how could he be pessimistic when Kenny was trying to taunt rabbits out of bushes by insulting Bugs Bunny? Had it been anyone else, he would have told them to keep quiet, or to calm down, but this was Kenny and fuck if he didn’t need a fucking break. He wasn’t about to rain on his only true friend’s parade.

Turned out he didn’t have to. After two or tree hours of this, the high seemed to leave Kenny in one sudden swoop, and he called for a break when they were a mere few feet from the train. They were hidden in the trees still, but Lee knew that a few more minutes and it would come in sight. The crinkling leaves under their feet, usually a sound Lee enjoyed, was now merely a liability, like ringing the doorbell to announce your presence. He heard Kenny’s footsteps come to a stop, followed by a _flump_. 

Kenny had sat on the ground, back against an aged tree trunk, rifle across his lap and his bag of game at his side.

“We’re almost there,” Lee said, not sure how to tell Kenny that he would rather get this food to their few remaining friends and Clementine than rest. They could rest after, with their stomachs slightly fuller. Lee tried to remind himself that Kenny was still grieving, and so he called on his patience, putting down his rifle and bag as well and taking place next to Kenny. They remained in companionable silence for a while, Kenny’s gaze fixed on the rifle on his lap.

“Sorry, pal,” he spoke after a while. “I just thought about how I’d be goin’ back to nothing and nearly goddamn fell over.”

Lee looked up at the now reddening sky, head against the tree trunk. He didn’t look at Kenny when he admitted this, because he knew he was a prideful man and this was likely something he was very much not proud of. But he was human, like everyone else, and Lee was determined to remind him of that, if need be.

“It’s okay,” he said, his ears almost straining against the strange unsettling quiet of the woods. Now that neither of them were moving, the silence was deafening. “Take your time. You have a lot to think about.”

“Ha, you can say that again,” his friend sighed, shaking his head. Kenny took off his cap, scratching at the top of his head before quickly placing it back. “Duck got me this, y’know. It was my birthday present. Picked it out himself and paid for it with his own cash. He was so fucking proud, it was ridiculous. It’s just a shitty hat,” he scoffed, but the soft affection in his voice was clear. Kenny was hanging his head and so Lee couldn’t see his face, but when a hand tried to sneakily scratch at his cheek, he noticed the fingertips came away wet.

Lee sighed, shifting so that his shoulder slightly bumped Kenny’s, then leaned against him. It was small, but it was comfort.

“You did the right thing,” Lee spoke, his voice quiet and subdued. It was hard to convince your friend that killing his son in front of his wife’s dead body was the right thing. “In what kind of fucked up world is that the right thing?” He added, under his breath and almost to himself. 

“In ours now, Lee. In you case you didn’t fuckin’ notice, the lines between right and wrong have been fucked to hell and back. I don’t even think there’s a goddamn line anymore.”

Lee looked at him blankly before bursting out laughing, loud and clear and sharp in the light of the setting sun.

“What? What the fuck is so funny, Lee?” 

The indignation in his tone only made him laugh harder, and Lee shook his head, trying to catch his breath. Jesus, that was kind of a hilarious thing to hear from that mouth. He settle down quickly, though his grin wouldn’t leave his face no matter what he thought about.

“Nothing, it’s just…” He laughed again, briefly, before slapping his hand on Kenny’s leg, giving it a squeeze. “You’re one hell of a man. Do you know how rich that is coming from you?”

Kenny’s eyes narrowed and his eyebrows raised, a feat only he seemed capable of.

“Do you think I give a fuck?” He said, and then he laughed, too. “And get your dirty paws off of me, I’m a Christian man and that’s how I intend to go down, alright?”

But Lee saw in his eyes and in the way he didn’t actually shove his hand off that he didn’t quite mean that. 

A little while later, when his upper lip felt like it had been sanded by his stupid moustache, he thought he was getting pretty good at reading him.


End file.
